Just because we're always hungry…

Coffee has always been an integral part of our daily lives. It gives us enough power and energy to go about our busy work days. It is therefore not surprising that corporate coffee giants and specialty coffee shops are everywhere, and more people are now interested in the process of creating their daily dose of caffeine.

Specialty Coffee Beans

Specialty coffee is a type of coffee graded with a score of at least 80 by a Q grader. This usually means it has better quality in terms of taste, flavour, and aroma. A Q grader is a person qualified to give coffee an SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) score out of 100. One of the coffee companies here in the Philippines offering specialty coffee is Toby’s Estate.

Sir Raul Peralta teaching us the difference of specialty coffee from others

Toby’s Estate, a specialty coffee roaster and retailer that originated from Woolloomooloo, Sydney, Australia, was brought to the Philippines by the Rebel Alliance Food Supply Inc. in February 2014. Since then, the brand has been recognized by coffee lovers and foodies alike. With the rising awareness, curiosity and appreciation of customers for coffee, Toby’s Estate will continue to thrive as a well-known specialty coffee shop in the country.

The desire to provide customers with the best and most diverse specialty coffees this world has to offer led Toby’s Estate to launch their Single Origin: Espresso Series this coming March. They will be featuring a new Single Origin espresso every month.

First in the series is their Costa Rica El Jaguar which was inspired by artisanal Southeast Asian methods. Why El Jaguar? The farm that produces the Costa Rican coffee gives a portion of what it sells to the Jaguar conservation program in Costa Rica. The El Jaguar coffees come from farms in the Los Santos region of Tarrazu, Costa Rica located 1500 meters above sea-level.

The Costa Rica El Jaguar, with a grade of 86, is a light roast, honey processed coffee that has notes of fruit, sugar cane, chocolate and caramel. We had the opportunity to be one of the first to taste the Costa Rica El Jaguar before it hits the store on March 5th. Sir Raul Peralta, a certified Q grader, shared a few recommendations on how you can enjoy your espresso.

For people who like their coffee black, or just want to savor the pure taste of coffee, Sir Raul suggested to try and order it as either a Cortado (equal parts of espresso and warm milk), Cappuccino (double espresso with steamed milk foam), Gibraltar (double shot of espresso with a little milk) or black. We chose to try the Gibraltar and loved it! You can really taste the coffee without it being too strong and having hints of fruits. But if you like your coffee a little sweet, you can also add more milk and sugar to lessen the strength of the coffee.

Gibraltar

Aside from the El Jaguar espresso, Toby’s Estate will also be launching its own cold brew on March 15th. Cold brew is steeped for 18 hours using a specialty Arabica blend and will be coming in two variants: Black and White. The Black cold brew has a strong and smooth flavor with hints of chocolate and nut. The White cold brew on the other hand is creamy and sweet with a milk chocolate finish and toffee notes.

The Single-Origin: Espresso series will bring more color and flavor to Toby’s Estate’s current selection. Are you as excited as we are for the release of the Costa El Jaguar? Which beverage will be part of your daily work life?

-Words by AC Climaco and Photos by Mia Aguila (The Foodie Station Correspondents)